It's no secret why CyanogenMod is the most popular custom ROM out there; not only does it support a metric crapload of Android devices, but it also keeps them going far past their primes. The latest devices to get support for CM14.1 (Android 7.1 Nougat) nightlies include two variants of the Galaxy S III, the second-generation Moto X, a few Oppo devices, two versions of the HTC One Max, two Xiaomi phones, and more.

CyanogenMod is virtually the best-known custom ROM out there, and for good reason: it brings the newest version of Android to devices that would otherwise have to wait much longer to receive it, or would never receive it at all. This week, quite a few popular devices have received CyanogenMod 14.1, which is based on Android 7.1 Nougat.

Earlier today, some disappointing news came from Steve Kondik, CyanogenMod's founder and Cyanogen Inc.'s cofounder; because of Cyanogen Inc.'s failure, "(CyanogenMod) is very much affected." For the time being, though, CyanogenMod maintainers are still churning out new builds of CM14.1 (Android 7.1 Nougat) for many devices. We've got seven new devices with CyanogenMod 14.1 nightlies this time around (well, more like five, since two pairs of the devices are almost exactly the same).

Cyanogen Inc. may be dying as a company, but the voluntarily-maintained CyanogenMod ROMs are still alive and kicking. Case in point: seven more devices are joining CyanogenMod 14.1, which is based on Android 7.1 Nougat. Six of these Android-powered machines have builds already up, but one doesn't yet.

If a comment on a CyanogenMod commit thread by founder Steve Kondik is any indicator, rumors that Cyanogen Inc. is basically getting out of the OS development business seem to be coming to fruition. While the context of the comment is a rather specific commit thread, Kondik's frustration seems to have led to him to say a bit more about Cyanogen Inc.'s future plans than the company may have liked:

There isn't really going to be much if any involvement from the Inc this time around and I'm taking on a lot of stuff on my own to try and keep us moving forward.

Microsoft's home-built (or home-bought) smartphone lineup may not be long for this world, but it looks like the development community isn't giving up on it. The Nokia Lumia 520 is an entry-level Windows Phone 8 device, announced back in 2013, and later succeeded by the Lumia 525 and 530.

A few days ago, XDA developer banmeifyouwant posted a video of his in-progress CyanogenMod 13 port to the Lumia 525. The video shows CM13, based on Android 6.0, booting on the device as well as opening and closing apps.

The developer only demonstrated the 525 booting, but he is currently working on kernel tweaks to allow the 520 to boot as well.

The Android ROM community isn't quite as active as it was a few years ago with Android itself becoming more feature-rich. Still, CyanogenMod is chugging along with support for a ton of devices and a reasonably fast update cycle. A new snapshot build of the Marshmallow-based CyanogenMod 13 is now official (ZNH5Y), and it will be available on the first wave of devices today.

I'm going to be real with you guys: it's been a long while since I've flashed a ROM on any of my devices. Stock Android has gotten so good for me personally that I just haven't really gotten around to experimenting with anything new. That said, I definitely appreciate that the option is there for everyone out there who isn't happy with their device's software. And if I were to flash something right now, there's about a 100 percent chance that it'd be CyanogenMod.

For those of you who are already rocking CM's latest on your device, we have a pretty solid giveaway for you: 50 codes for CM Downloader Premium.

Like it or not, CyanogenMod is still one of the most popular, well-supported custom ROMs out there. However, downloading the necessary files to flash it could be an exercise in frustration. See, the CM download page only listed device code names, but now it uses the device names you actually know.

It's been a long and winding road to find the truth behind the recent announcement that Cyanogen Inc. had signed an exclusive deal with Micromax in India. OnePlus made waves when it said that meant there would be no CM updates for the OnePlus One sold in India, but Cyanogen Inc. made a blog post saying all global devices would get updates, and all was well. Except it isn't. A new post on the Cyanogen blog expands on the situation. Specifically, it states plainly that Indian phones won't get updates.